Post-Conviction Innocence Claims Toolbox

Introduction

Innocent people are convicted of crimes and spend years in prison while the real offender remains free. Although it is exceedingly difficult to overcome a conviction, even for an innocent individual, convictions are being overturned and individuals are being exonerated with increasing frequency. According to the Innocence Project, over 300 individuals have been exonerated based on DNA evidence, while other individuals are being exonerated without DNA evidence.

Righting What's Wrong in Criminal Justice -- a nine article series by Sue Russell from Pacific Standard (www.psmag.com), which is an arm of the nonprofit Miller-McCune Center for Research, Media and Public Policy

Intentional Bias in North Carolina, Editorial, The New York Times, December 25, 2012 (a judge resentenced three death-row inmates to life without parole under North Carolina's Racial Justice Act because the judge found "powerful evidence" of racial bias)

Pressure Mounts to Free 'Wilmington Ten,' Jessica Jones, NPR, December 24, 2012 ("A group of North Carolinians convicted of arson decades ago in a controversial court case are asking the outgoing governor for a pardon of innocence")

Court of Inquiry in Michael Morton Case Delayed, Brandi Grissom, The Texas Tribune, December 12, 2012 ("The court of inquiry that will determine whether the former prosecutor who oversaw the wrongful conviction of Michael Morton could face criminal charges will be delayed until Feb. 4, a prosecutor with the Texas attorney general’s office said Monday.")

Chicago: The False Confession Capital, Byron Pitts, 60 Minutes, December 9, 2012 ("It's hard to believe people would confess to a heinous crime they didn't commit, but they do -- especially teenagers -- and there is no place in the U.S. where this has occurred more than in Chicago. Byron Pitts reports.")

Supreme Court to Decide if Actual Innocence Claim Excuses Late Habeas Filing, Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal, October 29, 2012 (The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether an inmate who claims actual innocence is excused from the time limit for filing a habeas claim where Michigan inmate Floyd Perkins filed his habeas petition six years after obtaining the last of three affidavits supporting his claim of innocence, which was five years too late in Michigan)

When Mass Hysteria Convicted 5 Teenagers, Brent Staples, The New York Times, Op-Ed, October 27, 2012 (discussing a new documentary about the five black and Hispanic teenagers who were wrongly convicted in the beating and rape of a young, white jogger in Central Park in the spring of 1989)

Exoneration for a Man in Prison for 2 Years, Mosi Secret, The New York Times, October 26, 2012 (assault conviction was reversed after a special investigation by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office revealed defendant was the victim of mistaken eyewitness testimony and innocent of the crime)